Tuesday, August 30, 2011

summer delight: fried panko crusted soft-shell crab

I love eating fish and seafood in the summer; it's so light and fresh. Today I went to the seafood market at the Washington Marina and got 2 soft-shell crabs to make a nice summer dinner for me and my mom. I made:

gazpacho

panko crusted soft-shell crab

(and left-over couscous with spinach and feta)

brought them home alive, they looked like this:

Moments before we literally had to chop their faces off! I left my mom to do it.

Cleaning them was very easy, get some tips here: http://ouichefcook.com/?p=1488 basically just need to get the gills out. Then, as this savvy blogger suggests, soak them in milk for a while to take a bit of the brininess out. (I have to say it worked well)

Get the flour, whisked egg, and panko ready. I added some Old Bay to my flour for good measure - these are Maryland crabs, after all!

In the meantime, heat a couple inches of vegetable oil in a pan. While oil is heating, lightly coat the crab in flour, then in egg yolk (can add a little water or milk to it) and then roll it in the panko.

Ready to fry

When the oil is hot, place the crabs in and brown - each side around 3-4 minutes. I admit mine got a little more brown than I planned, but they were wonderfully crispy.

To make the dipping sauce, I simply combined some soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and chili oil (or can use hot sauce) to taste. If I had it, I would've added some chopped green onion as well.

Dipping crispy pieces of crab into this tangy savory sauce was heaven!

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Hi I'm Sabrina, better known as Bean! I'm an American environmentalist, traveler, and foodie living in Hamburg. I believe food brings people together. I'm bringing you eats from my travels and my expat kitchen.